70-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Egg Fossils Unearthed in China

Archaeologists got their hands on five dinosaur egg fossils that managed to stand the test of time from the late Cretaceous period 70 million years ago.

According to a report from China Central Television (CCTV), the fossilized eggs were unearthed from a construction site near the city of Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province. The five dinosaur shells were buried in red sandstone roughly seven to eight meters underground, with each fossil measuring at 13 to 14 centimeters in diameter.

"We found five eggs: three were destroyed, but they are still visible," archaeologist Qiu Licheng said. "The other two have their imprints on the stone. The eggs were round in shape, belonging to phytophagous dinosaurs."

Archaeologists date these eggs from phytophagous dinosaurs to be 70 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. However, a report from Science Alert pointed out that the age and species of the dinosaur eggs can't be officially confirmed yet without a peer-review verification.

It's certainly in the works though as the newly discovered fossilized dinosaur eggs will reportedly be transferred to a local museum in Foshan for further study and analysis.

This discovery is not a total shock since it is not the first time that dinosaur treasures have been uncovered in the city of Foshan. Since the 1980s, there have been significant finds in certain areas of the district such as Nanhai and Sanshui. After all, the region of Foshan used to be a basin and a habitat for a number of animals and plants in ancient times.

"There are two things that are special to the Sanshui Basin: one is that it's rich in minerals and the other is that it's rich in fossils, like dinosaur eggs from the cretaceous period or fish fossils from the Paleogene period," Bureau of Geology's chief geologist Liu Jianxiong said. "This discovery is very important to our research on paleoclimate and sedimentary environment."